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A Republican Among Democrats

DENVER — When he got the call from the Obama campaign inviting him to deliver a speech at the Democratic National Convention, Jim Leach said he “gulped at the thought.”

Like other supporters of Senator Obama, Mr. Leach might have been expected to jump at the chance to address the delegates here, but for him, the decision was far more complicated.

Mr. Leach, the former congressman from Iowa who was among several prominent Republicans to endorse Senator Barack Obama earlier this month, decided to go through with it. He will speak in prime time on Monday night sometime after a tribute to Senator Edward M. Kennedy and before Michelle Obama.

“Having committed to Obama, it struck me that I might as well be vigorous in that commitment,” Mr. Leach said in an interview. He will not be the only Republican to address the delegates this week, according to convention officials, but he will have one of the most prominent speaking roles.

And he acknowledged that his appearance here on the opening night of the convention could further tarnish his reputation in the G.O.P.
“I have no doubt that this is a very awkward thing for me,” he said. “But as a private citizen now, not an office holder, my only obligation is to do what’s in the best interest of public policy,” and he said he was “deeply disappointed” in the current administration.

In his speech tonight, Mr. Leach said he planned to make the argument that the country needs to set a new course for foreign policy. “I am simply going to lay out a historical and philosophical framework for why I think there should be a new approach to the issues of the day and why I think Barack Obama fits the challenges of the moment,” he said.

Mr. Leach indicated that he would avoid criticizing Senator John McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee. While he hasn’t spoken to his former congressional colleague for several years, he still “respects very much the contributions to our society that John McCain has made.”

In 2006, Mr. Leach, a moderate Republican who earned a reputation for defying the G.O.P. on some critical issues – he opposed the war in Iraq, for example – lost the House seat he had held for three decades in 2006. He is now a visiting professor at Princeton University.

By coincidence, the former lawmaker is speaking on the same day that Senator Obama campaigned in his hometown district in the eastern Iowa region. Were he not in Denver today hobnobbing with Democrats, Mr. Leach said he would have likely been campaigning with Mr. Obama there. Mr. Leach wouldn’t offer a prediction about whether Mr. Obama could win Iowa, but said the Illinois senator could be “very competitive” there and in other Midwestern battlegrounds.

Mr. Leach said his speech tonight would demonstrate that he’s not only an Obama supporter but distressed by the direction his longtime party has taken. He said it had its “historical posture,” most importantly on international affairs.

“The country has never been more in need of change,” he said. “It seems to me that the greatest risk is more of the same.”

“he still “respects very much the contributions to our society that John McCain has made.”

As should Democrats. For years Democrats have lauded McCain as the best of the Republicans. And the only Republican willing to cross the aisle to work with Dems on important legislation. Obama’s campaign needs to stop impugning McCain’s character and belittling his military service and start having a respectful discussion.

But it was McCain who started with going after Obama’s character. If McCain wants to play hard ball the DNC will play right back. McCain reversed himself on every position that the democrats admired him for. Who is John McCain? Well we all know he is a war hero, because apparently a long and I’m sure embellished story is all you need to be president. What has he done in the senate in the last 26 years that has really helped American Family’s. Because frankly serving in Vietnam wasn’t enough to fill up my tank

#3 Deshawn.Yes you right serving in Vietnam by McCain will not fill up your tank.The future president will not fill up your tank.Hard work by you will do the trick.Obama will not improve your financial situation.As a matter of fact if he will get elected he will blame Bush for couple years while economy will go down

Seems to me McCain has been shooting some real bad stuff at Obama just to sling it. He can’t make it on any serious, cogent policy so he can only act like a senile fool. But everything he says about the Dem candidates can be turned right back on his own flip flopping career. He needs to find a better leg to stand on.

Sorry, but this time it’s gloves off. The GOP has raced to set a low standard for winning–too bad they couldn’t execute the business of government with the same passion and conviction they brought to character assassination, spin, distortion and rationalizing. If McCain was the best of them, he left that part behind when he recruited the usual thugs and liars to run his campaign.

I’m not sure if Mr. Leach would be doing all this if he were still a Member of Congress, but I doubt it. Losing an election in large part because your party and the President are unpopular can be quite powerful. So, at least in that sense, Lieberman is showing some courage in campaigning for McCain while still holding office, although he’s not up for re-election until 2012.

Did you know that Mr. Leach was Chairman of the House Banking and Financial Services before 2007? That plus Biden, who’s been great friends with MBNA, as well as other many other financially-related lawmakers who are supporting Obama, perhaps Barack shouldn’t be blaming all our economic troubles on Bush and McCain. Many of his supporters had a hand in exacerbating our credit crisis problems. Wonder how he’ll fix our financial system considering that.

Damsel!!!! you just stated the problem with America today!!!! Nobody is allowed to speak and say how they feel… you’re called names……traitor…..unpatriotic…..liar…..terrorist…..take your pick…..It’s ‘my side can do what they like’ and your side is wrong. The truth doesn’t matter anymore……that’s what America has become……a Country that condones….liars…..lawbreakers…..anything goes…..The Founding Fathers must be turning in their graves….to see what this once Great Nation has become…..

Oh give me a break Steve. McCain plays the “I was a POW” card every time he faces any heat, and whenever Obama tries to critisize him for anything, it’s “belittling his military service”. I’m sorry, serving in the military doesn’t innocculate you from political critisism.

How many war heros are there in America who no-body would vote for? Lots. POW’s? Thousands of them and this current administration and McCain are against improving their lives. Does anyone remember McCain voted against Vets recently?
I can’t believe the mileage McCain has gotten out of his service. I wish I could use it to fill up my tank!

Jim Leach is a great public servant who always put country ahead of party or personal enrichment. It’s unfortunate that he became one of Bush’s victims — defeated in 2006 mainly because that was how voters in his district could register a vote of no confidence in Bush.

Steve (#1), as others have already said, McCain is no longer a shining example of bipartisanship. He has voted with Bush 95% and 100% of the time the past two years. He has embraced the Bush positions he formerly rejected (see tax cuts for the wealthiest, torture, and groveling to the religious right). Not to mention the campaign tactics of fear and smear.

Nelson (#13), Lieberman is hardly showing courage campaigning for Obama. Having lied egregiously to the voters of Connecticut to gain re-election in 2006 (he said no one wanted to bring the troops more than him, and pledged to help a Democrat win the White House in ’08), he knows he can’t win in 2012 and has already cast his lot with the Republicans. He will become Mr. Irrelevant in the Senate in January when the Democrats won’t need him to have a majority. His only hope of avoiding four years of aimlesly wandering the corridors of the Capitol is for McCain to win the presidency and give him a job.

Dumb is as dumb does! YOU Voted for Bush once in 2000? YOU Voted for Bush twice in 2004? Now the country is a wreck and sold out to China and your thinking about voting for Bush Jr (Mc Cain)? Well people I have a bridge in Uganda I want to sell you!

I have voted for Democrats ever since 1992, but every chance I ever had to vote for Jim Leach, I did so. He was one of the truly honorable members of Congress and his defeat in the Democratic takeover of 2006 was a true loss for this country.

As an Iowan, and supporter of Barack Obama since the caucuses, I am deeply proud of my former congressman for stepping up and speaking out against the policies and politics of the past eight years.

Together with the Obamacans. We unite and work hard to make things happen. We will disagree but with compromises, and different ideas we will make things happen. This nation needs to take a new trajectory.In a major way.

Democrats have lauded the McCain they thought they knew — the contrite, reformed character who vowed to learn from the Keating disaster and tried to demonstrate this with campaign finance reform and with the occasional flash of independence from certain Republican policies.

But McCain’s spectacular flip flop of the past four years demonstrates that his post-Keating contrition was just an act. He’s right back to the ambition-at-all-costs, freewheeling, impetuous, dirty neocon of the 1980s — the person who sullied our government with a huge chunk of the savings and loans crisis.

Jim Leach isn’t a Republican. He never was. Leach is for Leach, not the American people. He pursued left wing policies throughout his time in Congress, but he needed the GOP to get him elected and promoted up through the ranks to be a chairman. Now that Iowans got wise to his true colors and threw him out of office, he is finally being honest with us all and admitting that he really is a Democrat after all.

President Obama drew criticism on Thursday when he said, “we don’t have a strategy yet,” for military action against ISIS in Syria. Lawmakers will weigh in on Mr. Obama’s comments on the Sunday shows.Read more…